The Sword And The Shield (X-Men) (UNDER CONSTRUCTION)

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Shade

Shade

Jade's POV

I'm sitting outside on the basketball court, watching some of the little girls attempting to do kart wheels. Maxi, a little girl with red hair and freckles, topples over onto her butt. "No no no Maxi!" I chuckle, lifting her up onto her feet. "Like this!" I demonstrate for them and they cheer. "Thank you, thank you." I bow sarcastically. "Your turn Gracie." She tries too, but to no avail. Gracie pouts out her lower lip and crosses her arms, threatening to cry. "Oh it's okay, you did well!" I pick her up and swing her around. "How about you go in and have Dan make you some chocolate milk." They both run up the steps with excitement, leaving me alone.

I walk over to a basketball and pick it up. I roll it around in my fingers before shooting it, but I aim too high. It flies over the backboard and into the grass. I groan as I jog over to it, but something growls at me as soon as I reach down for it. The wolf that's chained to the tree growls at me, his yellow eyes telling me to back off. "Oh calm yourself." I shush it and it crawls back into the shaded area under the tree.

I turn around to see Belle leaning against the pole with her arms draped across her chest. "Hey weirdo." She smirks.

"Hi dork." I pass her the ball and she flinches, swatting it away. The sound of children playing drowns out the sound of my laughter, but I don't care. Her face was priceless. I pick the ball up and pass it to her again, this time she catches it as it hits the ground. "Well that's what I call progress." She rolls her blue eyes at me.

"Sports aren't really my thing."

"Well." I say with a short breath, dribbling around her. I leap off the ground and dunk the ball, hanging onto the rim so that she has to look up at me. "I guess it's a good thing that I just so happen to be decent at." I drop to my feet right in front of her, catching a glimpse of Dan whispering into Aaron's ear. They run back inside and I raise an eyebrow.

"I don't really do physical contact." Belle adds. I'm about to laugh but I freeze, pointing towards the front doors.

"Even if it's with that?" My voice falters off as Dan and Aaron walk down the steps, side by side. Dan has his shirt draped over his shoulder, strutting like a model. He is proudly showing off his bare toned torso, which is probably the only part of him that isn't tattooed. Aaron is walking next to him in much less of a strut. His tanner complexion makes Dan look like a male version of Snow White. He gives Dan a confused look, like he doesn't know why he's going along with it. Our eyes meet and he blushes, making me laugh. Aaron's also wearing navy basketball shorts that are sitting loosely on his hips, showing us the hem of his boxers. He's more fit than Dan, with his more defined six pack. The ratio of his shoulders and waist is rather attractive. Belle clearly agrees. She lifts up a hand and whispers to me.

"Depends what kind of physical contact we're talking about here." I snort and cover my mouth, acting like it didn't happen.

"Hey there ladies." Dan says seductively, or at least attempts to. "What do ya say we," He leans down the pick up the ball before passing it to me. "Play a little bit of pickup basketball?" I toss the ball up in the air and balance it on my pinky, spinning it around at a high speed.

"Sure Daniel." I chuck the ball at him and hit him in the chest. He leans over, his cocky expression slowly dying into regret. "Check." Dan gulps and starts to dribble.

"I'm warning you, I used to play-" Before he finishes his sentence I swipe the ball out from under his control and sprint up the court. I pass the ball from hand to hand and between the legs before leaping into the air, five feet away from the basket. I slam the ball down and hang on the rim, swinging my legs back and forth. "I wasn't ready!" Dan shouts from the opposite side of the court. I stick out my tongue and drop to the ground, landing on my feet.